Outside of the Romney campaign, Adelson has spent upwards of $20 million in donations to Republican candidates this election cycle, and almost single-handedly bankrolled Newt Gingrich's rollercoaster primary campaign. CBS pegs him as the biggest super PAC donor of this election cycle.

Adelson mostly avoids the media spotlight, but his rags-to-riches tale reveals some of the reasons as to why he made huge ideological and personal changes through his life.